Saturday, 23 January 2010

Day 39 – Puerto Madryn

Puerto Madryn

Had the usual flasks of warm coffee and medialunas at breakfastand checked out. The man at the desk kindly agreed to allow our bags to be stored in their office. Walked into town and had a coffee at Balcarce, where they had wi –fi, and updated the blog. It was really hot and we had to move outside where there was a breeze in the shade. It was almost too hot to do anything that involved movement so we sat under the shade of one of the few remaining unoccupied trees. Even the tiniest trees had somebody sat beneath! It was 35C with a hot dry wind. Had another coffee in Havanna where the air conditioning made the afternoon wait for the bus bearable. They seem to go for cheese and ham toasties here in a big way….which is fortunate as they tasted delicious. Returned to the office where we got changed and collected our huge bags full of panniers and food….without the bikes they were just too heavy to carry so we arranged for a taxi to drive us the 600m to the coach station!! Poor effort! The heat at the station was awful and we couldn’t wait to get on the bus to cool down. It arrived late and everybody rushed to get on it. Found our quiet seats right at the back and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of space for a semi-cama. Feeling quite smug we settled back and waited to depart. As we waited we realized the temperature was just as stifling in the coach….everybody reached to the vents and rammed their fingers into them in frustration. Eventually we set off and at the first corner a cascade of water poured from the roof directly behind my seat. We were sat under the air conditioning unit which clearly wasn’t working! The water ran along the floor under seats soaking our bags. At the next stop I let the driver know (after looking up ‘waterfall on my head’ in the phrase book) and he said ‘OK’. When we set off the co-driver came upstairs and stopped just before our seats before turning round to go back. I shouted at him (nicely) to stop with the help of passengers who grabbed his arm for me. I pointed at the dripping roof above my head and he gave the Latin American equivalent of a gallic shrug and said something like ‘....and?’ The passengers laughed as he carried on downstairs and suggested I use an umbrella! It was going to be an arduous 18 hour journey! The heat was oppressive but at least we had the advantage of an occasional shower to cool us down. The flasks came out 2 hours into the journey and the herby smell of mate wafted down the aisle accompanied by sounds of gentle sucking  of bombillos. Then overhead TV’s suddenly sprang to life and we were subjected to Scarey Movie 3 dubbed into Spanish which just made it even more hilarious…..followed by ‘Shooter’ at full volume….which jammed near the end! The highlight of the journey was the occasional sighting of a Guanoco or Rhea at the side of the road (alive) and a fantastic sunset. At 12.30 the lights came on and the Police boarded for identity card checks. A young serious man with a clipboard had doodled a huge swastika on the back of his notepad! The lights went out and I leaned back to adjust my position. The backrest went with me without pulling the lever and I realized the seat was broken…which meant I would probably end up with my head in the direct trajectory of the water at some time during the night. It was a long, sleepless night with the added excitement of a strengthening crosswind which made the bus rock alarmingly back and forth and occasionally leave the road and bump along the gravel hard shoulder!

Always a welcome sight


Warming up


Are you sitting comfortably